Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/827

Rh SIBYRTIUS. in various countries and at different times in antiquity. The name is said to be formed from Aios and ^ovKri, so that it would signify the counsel of Zeus (Plut. Phaedr. p. 244 ; Serv. ad Aen. iii. 445). The first Sibyl, from whom all the rest are said to have derived their name, is said to have been a daughter of Dardanus and Neso. Some authors mention onl}' four Sibyls, the Erythraean, the Samian, the Egyptian and the Sardian (Aelian, V. H. xii. 35) ; but it was more commonly believed that there were ten, namely the Babylonian, the Libyan, the Delphian (an elder Delphian, who was a daughter of Zeus and Lamia, and a younger one. Pans. x. 12. § 1), the Cimmerian, the Erythraean (here too we find an elder and a younger one, who is called Hero- phile, Strab. xiv. p. 645), the Samian, the Cu- maean (who is sometimes identified with the Erythraean, Aristot. Mirab. 97), the Hellespontian or Trojan (comp, Tibull. ii. 5. 19), the Phrygian and the Tiburtine (Pans. x. 12 ; Lactant. Jnstit. i, 6). The most celebrated of these Sibyls is the Cumaean, who is mentioned under the names of Herophile, Demo, Phemonoe, Deiphobe, Demo- phile, and Amalthea (Pans. I. c. ; Serv. ad Aen. iii. 445, vi. 72 ; Tibull. ii. 5. 67 ; Suidas, s. v.). She was consulted by Aeneas before he descended into the lower world (Ov. Met. xiv. 104, &c., XV. 712 ; Virg. Aen. vi. 10). She is said to have come to Italy from the East (Liv. i. 7), and she is the one who, according to tradition, appeared be- fore king Tarquinius, offering him the Sibylline books for sale (Plin. H. N. xiii. 28 ; Cell. i. 19). Pausanias also mentions a Hebrew Sibyl of the name of Sabbe, who is called a daughter of Be- rosus and Erymanthe. [L. S.] SIBY'NTIUS (StguyTios), a reader and a slave of the orator Theodectes of Phaselis, who died before B. c. 333, was the first slave who professed the art of oratory. He wrote some works on rhetoric, which are mentioned by Suidas (s. v.) (Comp. Westemiann, Geschichte der Griech. Be- redtsamkeit., § 50, n. 6.) SIBY'RTIUS (SigupTJOs), a Macedonian officer in the service of Alexander the Great, who was appointed by him, on his return from India (b. c. 326), governor of the province of Carmania. This post he shortly after exchanged for the more im- portant satrapy of Arachosia and Gedrosia, to which he succeeded on the death of Thoas (Arrian, Anah. vi. 27 ; Curt. ix. 10. § 20). At the death of Alexander, Sibyrtius, in common with most of the other governors of the remote eastern provinces, retained possession of his satrapy, which was again confirmed to him in the second partition at Tripa- radeisus, B. c. 321 (Diod. xviii. 3 ; Justin, xiii. 4 ; Arrian, ap. Phot. p. 71, b. ; Dexippus, ibid. p. 64, b.). In the subsequent divisions wiiich arose among the eastern satraps, Sibyrtius was one of those who supported Peucestes against Python and Seleucus, and afterwards accompanied that leader when he joined Euraenes in Susiana, B.C. 317. His attachment was, however, to Peucestes, and not to Eumenes, and in the intrigues of the former against his commander-in-chief, Sibyrtius supported him so strongly that he incurred the especial re- sentment of Eumenes, who threatened to bring him to trial ; a fate from which he only escaped by a hasty flight. But this open rupture with EumcMies had the advantage of securing him the favour of Antigonus, who, after the defeat of his SICI^IA GENS. 815 rival, confirmed Sibyrtius in his satrapy, and placed under his command a large part of the select body of troops termed Argyraspids ; a measure adopted with the ostensible object of guarding these pro- • vinces against the neighbouring barbarians, but ia reality with a view to the gradual destruction of the troops in question, whose turbulent and dis- affected spirit was well known, (Diod. xix. 14, 23, 48 ; Poljaen. iv. 6. § 18.) No further men- tion is found of Sibyrtius. [E. H. B.] SICA'NUS (2i/cai/os), son of Execestus, was one of the three generals of the Syracusans (Her- mocrates being another), who were appointed at the timfe of the Athenian invasion, b. c. 415. In B. c. 413, after the repulse of the Athenians from Epipolae, he was sent with 13 ships to Agri- gentum, to endeavour to obtain assistance ; but, before he could reach the city, the party there, which was favourable to the Syracusans, was defeated and driven out. In the sea-fight of the same year, in which the Athenians were conquered and Eurymedon was slain, Sicanus, .according to Diodorus, was the author of the plan for setting fire to the enemy's ships, which had been driven into the shallow water near the shore ; and shortly after we find him commanding one wing of the Syracusan fleet in the last and decisive defeat of the Athenians in the great harbour of Syracuse. (Thuc. vi. 73, vii. 46, 50, 53, 70 ; Diod. xiii. 13.) [E. E.] SICCA, a friend of Cicero, who took refuge at his estate at Vibo, in the country of the Bruttii, when he left Rome in B. c. 58. Here he received intelligence of his banishment, and forthwith set out for Brundisium, where he expected to meet Sicca, but was disappointed, as Sicca had left Brun- disium before he arrived there. (Cic. ad Att. iii. 2, 4, ad Fam. xiv. 4. § 6). Plutarch {Cic. 32) ap- pears to refer to the same person, but calls him Ovi^Los liKeXos dvrip, " Vibius, a Sicilian," as if he had mistaken the name Sicca ; but he relates that this Vibius refused Cicero hospitality at Vibo. Sicca is next mentioned at the breaking out of the civil war in B, c. 49, when L. Domitius sent him with a letter and orders to Pompey. In B. c 44 Cicero .-igain took refuge in Sicca's house at Vibo. {Cc. ad Att. viii. 12, c. xii. 23, xiv. 19, xvi. 6, 11.) Sl'CCIUS, a name oftentimes confused with Sici7iius. [See SiciNius, Nos. 2, 3.] SICHAEUS. [Sychaeus.] SICPNIA GENS, patrician and plebeian. The only patrician member of the gens was T. Sicinius Sabinus, who was consul b. c. 487. [Sabinus, p. 691, a.] All the other Sicinii mentioned in history were plebeians ; and although none of them obtained the consulship, they gained great celebrity by their advocacy of the rights of the plebeians in the struggles between the two orders. One or two of the plebeian Sicinii bore cognomens, which are given below. There are a few coins of this gens, COIN OF THE SICINIA GENS,